Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Pushing the Reset Button

Been really busy lately doing other things, and once again find myself not keeping up with this blog, though if something serious was going on, I'd like to think that I would find out somehow amongst the TG grapevine. I had about 15-20 minutes to caption the other day, and I was just looking for an interesting picture to use. It wasn't for anyone specific, just an overall idea to turn into a caption. I want to try doing that, since I often lack the drive to make anything that isn't for someone else.

I find that when I have no sense of direction, making captions is VERY hard for me. I guess that is an irony, isn't it? I would think that the choice to make ANY sort of caption you want, without any limitations placed upon your creative process, would be a godsend to most captioners. For me though, the ADHD (or ADD or whatever it is I have) makes me lose focus very quickly. I can create wide swaths of ideas when I am given a small bit of guidance, but a blank canvas just does nothing for me. Whenever I write lyrics, the first 6-8 lines NEVER end up in the actual song. Its more of an exercise in getting things moving. By that point, I usually have something to sink my teeth into. I always save them though, as I've recycled them in other songs. Isn't that ecological of me? LOL

Back to this caption, the main point I had was that the main character had been a miscreant, and was probably in a detention center or had gotten arrested a few times. I wanted to show a new start, and I wanted to keep it away from magic. The stem cell research was a bit of a cop-out, but it is still possible: and if she was on to something, the government would definitely want to keep the project alive AND test it out at the same time. They are nothing if not ruthless and secretive.

Hopefully I will be able to do some more captioning. I have another computer to work on (this one is removing stuff of my Dad's old computer and installing slot machine games to give to my Memere now that baseball season is about done) as I just finished installing a new hard drive in my daughter's laptop (and of course installing Windows 7 and all the native drivers and updates etc ...) I love working on computers but I think I'm finally getting sick of the constant swapping of CPU's, as I only have 2 monitors set up. It'd help even more if I was being paid like I usually do for computer repair!

As this is a blog exclusive, I don't mind comments about the actual caption!

DISCUSSION QUESTION: If you are a caption creator, do you have an easier time with a blank slate, or when you have to work within a set of guidelines for someone in particular? Do you set up certain times when you will caption, whenever the whim takes you, or when the situation lets you? As a reader, do you like captions more when its not geared for a certain person, or made for someone with the same preferences as you?

6 comments:

A nice cap that raises questions as to how much of who we are is genetic. Was it a sudden epiphany that changed his attitude? Or was his sister's brilliance and demeanor encoded onto her, and now his, DNA?

I really cannot get anything done if I'm given a blank slate. Be it a cap, or a term paper. Usually I'm not than capable at producing something once I get started, but starting from nothing is positively infuriating.

I can understand that. For me, its almost like an improv sketch, give me a location, a job, or anything at all to grab onto and I can crank something out. Glad to see I'm not the only one in the boat!

I am not sure honestly which is the correct answer. I looked at it initially as there being potential there in him, he just sort of chose a different path than his sister. The DNA being a close match and the realization of a second chance completed his story arc. I am not sure if demeanor is encoded in your DNA, but perhaps being smaller and a girl made him see things in a different way, and forced him to use his brain to succeed? Perhaps she wouldn't have been the way she was if she had been born a boy?

All questions I did not ponder when creating something that was more of a quickie than anything!

I'm all over the map when creating. Rarely I go from jump street to making caps, but it definitely has to be during a moderately relaxing down time. Stress from work, life, etc, definitely gives one err "performance anxiety". Is there a little blue pill that helps you caption? :p

Very nice cap Dee. I think the idea of sacrificing your less than stellar life for the more idealistic and truly inspired life of a passed loved one would be very hard to deny.

I remember having an incredibly hard time capping for myself. I had that same anxiety when there wasn't some sort of guideline to work from. It could have been as simple as working with the preference for a blonde smutty cap, and it would give me the go ahead to create.

Now, though, I find I can create what I see as 'better' caps when I'm not restrained in that way. When the image can speak to me without a filter, and I can explore the story in more depth. When I don't have to double check to make sure that it doesn't go outside of a person's preferences. To be honest, when I DO cap for someone else, I'll often find myself looking for any image and getting a basic idea together, and only then seeing if it will work for my intended target. If it doesn't, I'll just make that cap and post it to the blog. If it does fit, I tweak it just a little to land in the sweet spot of preferences.

The times I cap are dictated by just about everything else that needs to be scheduled in my life. I try to cap whenever the mood captures me. When I was in school, that generally meant capping in the afternoon after class, or in the evening after studying. But now that my schedule is more open, I tend to cap in the mid morning, and then again in the afternoon. By the time evening comes around, I've already spent my creative energy and don't have anything left to cap from.

I can see that the time of day helps in how good the captions come out. My job has me in fairly early to work, and the most creative times there are the first few hours, then I always feel like I need to take a nap. Also, when I get a Saturday morning to caption, the work produced tends to come quicker and flow more easily then.

There have been times that I've come up with a caption that doesn't quite fit a persons preferences as I'm writing it. I will continue to create it how I see fit, figuring that I can always make them another caption easier than try to make the one I am doing for them fit what they want.

Dee-constructing Dee

Admin / Guardian Dee-mon at Rachel's Haven.
Fruit wrangler for Carmen Miranda.
Stealer of Rachel's shoes.
Affectionally known as "The Bat".
Lover of razor sharp wit and the absurd.
Commenter on many other TG blogs.
Connoisseur of Pop Culture.